Sunday, October 25, 2009

Michael Jackson has been a legendary entertainer in our lifetime. We thrived off his songs, his clothing style, and the amazing moonwalk my mother's generation attempted to imitate. Although the gheri-curl, leather jacket, silver glove and those sparkly tube socks have attracted millions of girls, one little birdie has an outfit of his own and moves to attract the ladies.

The Red-capped manakin, Pepra Mentalis, is a short bird with a short tail with a family of about 50 other manakin species. They can be found in South American Tropical forest, at only about 3-6.5 inches long, and one ounce. Like most species, the males stick out with bright colors to attract females for mating. In this particular species, the Red-Capped manakin has a red head, a black belly and yellow thighs. The females and reproductively immature males are not as bright, but are green and or brown. While courting females, the male manakin does a charming moonwalk perhaps MJ inspired. He flaps his wings to his sides, hops a little bit, and then slides backwards on his porch. The amazing footwork and divine outfit are a great combination for attracting the female manakins. Often the males will perform a dance together but only the best dancing manakin will get to mate. This is the alpha male, who has the privilege of mating until he dies, and the beta male takes his place.

I found this little bird to be extremely cute and quite the entertainer. The Red-Capped Manakin has gained quite the popularity on video sharing site YouTube for its smooth moonwalk. I've witnessed many artist such as Ne-Yo, Jamie Foxx, sister Janet Jackson, and plenty of inspired dancers attempt to imitate his forever-remembered dance; but this bird has the moves down pack. Perhaps Michael's "mating dance" inspired the stories behind Billy Jean and Dirty Diana, provoking women everywhere to fall in love with him. Nature tells us that us humans aren't very different when it comes to impressing the opposite sex!

Here is the cute video of the moonwalking expert (The manakin, not the man).